Art of Tablesettings exhibit opens Sunday at Rahr-West

Donna Ney, of Two Rivers, sets the table on a display for the annual Art of Tablesettings show on Saturday at the Rahr-West Art Museum in Manitowoc. The exhibition will run from Oct. 5-26.
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Setting the table is no chore for the participants in the Rahr-West Art Museum's annual Art of Tablesettings exhibit.

In fact, getting a spot at the tables is a much sought after position, with a lottery drawing held each year to determine who can participate.

"This year we had close to 100 applications for 50 spots," said Elaine Schroeder, Rahr-West administrative support specialist.

The exhibit, now in its 40th year, opens Sunday and runs through Oct. 26. The exhibit has grown in both popularity and size from when museum namesake Ruth West first proposed the idea of having an exhibit of table settings.

"It was begun as a way to showcase china and crystal and flowers, and it has developed into something unbelievable. It's not just showcasing dishes … some tables don't even have dishes. The themes are very, very different," Schroeder said.

While traditional tables remain popular, with exhibitors getting out their best fine china, tablecloths and accessories, the eclectic and unusual can also be found.

Schroeder said past years have seen Japanese-themed tables with Japanese utensils, camping tables with camping gear and a covered wagon with tin dishes. One of the most creative was done by a local painter, who took the back of a truck, mounted it on the wall and then had paint cans as a table to show how he ate lunch while he was painting.

While there is no limit to the exhibitor's imagination, size does become a factor as the participants are limited to a 6-by-4-foot area.

Schroeder said that the exhibit is one of the most popular at the museum, drawing both participants and guests from throughout the area and beyond.

"They come from all over," Schroeder said. "Other cities have tried to do it and it doesn't seem to blossom like ours have. I don't know why that is, but this one really seems to have stuck. We have bus trips that come up from Milwaukee just to see it."

Since the start of the exhibit in 1974, almost 2,500 designers have participated, including many who return year after year, assuming their name is drawn from the lottery. Participants have included mother-daughter teams, friends and groups, including a girl-scout troop that's been involved for the past two years.

And interest is not limited to women.

"Men love doing this," Schroeder said.

Designers say that figuring out the theme and acquiring the components is part of the fun.

Debbie Smith and Linda Sand attended the exhibit last year and this year are taking part for the first time. With a theme of "Christmas Belongs to Family and Friends," the two friends have spent the past year picking out components of their table.

"We have a passion for collecting dishes. We love to rummage and thrift, and we started picking out things," Smith said.

Their exhibit includes a cobbler's bench made by Sand's father, dishes that date back to 1910, silverware from 1918 and a rocker from an auction in Tisch Mills.

"This event pulls you in," Sand said.

For exhibitors Donna Ney, Mindy Peters and Linda Wallander, the event not only pulls them in, it pushes their creative juices. This year, they crafted a vineyard setting complete with a cream-city brick background and an arbor for grapevines to twist around, which sets the stage for "Torcendo La Notte," their homage to an Italian patio garden.

"We put a lot of time and effort into it," Wallander said. "We love to come up with an idea, have a picture in our mind and then see it develop."

Even though the event has evolved somewhat from the structured, sophisticated event the late Ruth West originally proposed, Schroeder thinks she would approve.

"Ruth was pretty progressive. I think she might have gotten a kick out of it," she said.